1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma generator, more specifically, to a plasma generator to apply cold plasma in the fields of medicine, biology, ecological recovery, activation, purification, special processing of gases, liquids and solid substances as well as other areas of technology and science.
2. Description of the Related Art
Plasmotrons which can generate plasma under normal atmospheric pressure conditions with temperature up to thousands degrees Celsius are well known in the art. The thermal heating of plasma is actived by classical electromagnetic induction, via induction heating of electrically conducting media in alternating electromagnetic field of the inductor. The device consists of high voltage AC generator, quartz pipe-shaped case and liquid-cooled inductor, an inductance coil having large numbers of turns. In order to generate the induction discharges in a volume of approximately 1 liter (0.001 m.sup.3), a multi-turn inductor of 0.1 m diameter is essentially required, the inductor reactance being raised greatly at 1 MHz and higher frequencies. Naturally, it is very difficult to match the high voltage generator with the inductor reactance, and the effective output power is decreased. Accordingly, the prior art plasmotron has revealed some drawbacks of large dimensions, poor efficiency and very high plasma temperature, which, in turn, restricted its operational features considerably, especially in medicine, biology and ecological treatment.
The other types of plasma generator have been used in electric discharge therapy device which comprise electronic oscillator, modulation unit, output resonance transformer and rod-like discharge electrode. A plasma beam is induced between the end of the electrode and the biological object. The electronic oscillator produces oscillations in 200 kHz through 300 kHz frequency range. The modulator which can be constructed in transistors periodically switches on and off the signal of the oscillator at about 3 kHz to 5 kHz rate. Thus, the modulator provides impact excitation of resonance transformer circuit, which brings about measured output emission in a form of corona discharge between the electrode and the object. The device produces favorable therapeutic effect to treat a number of diseases, disorders, pathologies, mainly due to the induced heat in the specified areas of body.
The device, however, has also revealed shortcomings that the discharge transformation from corona to spark form may be appeared and the conduction currents origination directly in the tissue. The classical corona and spark discharge inevitably results in ionization, electric break-through and thermal heating of the air gap between the inducing electrode and the body which is used as the second electrode. Moreover, direct resonance action of the device by virtue of field is shunted as a result of ionization of substantial medium and chaotic heat motion of particles in the discharge area.
The problems of the prior art plasma generator, in principle, have limited all the direct use of electromagnetic field in medicine, biology and directed activation of substantial media such as gases, liquids and solid bodies. Under the circumstances, there are strong reasons for exploring and developing alternative type of a novel plasma generator to solve said problems in the art.